A reader asks: Why is Linux still not as user friendly as the two other main OSes with all the people developing for Linux? Is it because it is mainly developed by geeks?
My initial feeling when reading this question was that it was kind of a throwaway, kind of a slam in disguise as a genuine question. But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I felt. There truly are a large amount of resources being dedicated to the development of Linux and its operating system halo (DEs, drivers, apps, etc). Some of these resources are from large companies (IBM, Red Hat, Novell). Why isn't Linux more user-friendly? Is this an inherent limitation with open source software?

I would also like to add a philosophical point. The old saying, "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and feed him for a lifetime." holds wieght for software too, in my opinion. Dumbing down user interfaces only helps new users and only for a finite time. Eventually even new users become proficient and holding them back with lame hand-holding doesn't make sense in the long term.

This holds true for a certain set of applications (esp. server side software). However, some software is meant for "one-off" operations where you are not all that interested to learn to fish in the first place. X configuration with multiple monitors is such a thing, as well as setting up your wlan (or rest of the network). Incidentally, this is not a problem with ui design but rather your usual buggy software that can be corrected by finite manpower.

Incidentally, this is not a problem with ui design but rather your usual buggy software

Exactly, but for most "users" that is "user-unfriendly", since they don't see and don't care how or why it doesn't work, and they don't want to spend any time or effort for finding it out. That'd be ok, but instead of using what they'd feel more friendly, they come out and start complaining how bad that is, and wondering how come this sw, app, os, etc. doesn't live up to their expectations. It should be understood that if you get something for nothing then your demands should be requests, your complaints should be reports, and lacks in usability should be amended with your friendliness and will to contribute - if not with dev or support, then with patience and some effort.